Wednesday, April 7, 2010

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Mary-Anne O'Donnell.

Making headlines:

Local South African media has reportedt that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has ordered ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema to stop making inflammatory comments after he was accused of stoking racial tension before the murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre'Blanche.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was quoted as saying that he and President Jacob Zuma had met Malema on Tuesday and told him to stop making inflammatory statements and singing the struggle song containing the words "kill the boer", which is viewed as hate speech by South African courts. But the ANCYL denies any orders from Zuma and Mantashe.
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has requested an urgent meeting with President Zuma to discuss the "implications of Malema's hate speech". Briefing the media in Parliament yesterday, Zille said that merely pointing out, as the ANC had done, that there was no direct evidence linking Malema's hate speech to Terre'Blanche's murder, was "unhelpful, to say the least". She also called on Zuma to "act like a President" and tell the ANCYL that South Africa's history of division should not be allowed to destroy the country's chances of building a shared future.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is getting worse, partly owing to the legal limbo that has led some countries to release captured suspects, said Russia's United Nations (UN) envoy Vitaly Churkin yesterday. Over the past year and a half, the UN Security Council has passed several resolutions on piracy in the Horn of Africa and has authorised countries to use military force to pursue pirates in cooperation with Somalia's transitional government.
Churkin said that a stable legal mechanism is needed ensure that there is no impunity once pirates are caught off the coast of Somalia. Russia has drafted a Security Council resolution that would call on UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to outline options for ending the international legal ambiguities that have enabled pirates to escape prosecution. This impunity is largely owing to lawlessness in Somalia itself, as well as confusion over the jurisdiction for the prosecution of pirates captured in international waters. Churkin said that one option would be to establish a special tribunal to try suspected pirates.

The South African government has indicated that there is no "Plan B" to close funding gaps that could arise at Eskom's 4 800-MW Medupi power station project, should the utility fail to secure a contested $3,75-billion World Bank loan, which will be voted upon tomorrow.
Speaking at a media briefing following a consultation session with Business Unity South Africa (Busa) yesterday, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters and Department of Energy DG Nelisiwe Magubane said that they had been offered no further visibility on how the bank's 24 voting members would vote. It was initially indicated that the US might either oppose the loan, or abstain from the vote, while key countries such as the UK, France and Germany were said to be supportive of the loan. Environmental groups are opposing the loan, owing to the fact that the bulk of the proceeds would be used to finance Eskom's R120-billion Medupi coal-fired power station.
Both Busa and the South African government, however, suggest that the loan is necessary to "keep the lights on" in what is currently a power-stressed environment.

Also making headlines:

Renewables and imports will feature strongly in the second version of South Africa's integrated resource plan.
The southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement will boycott elections in most northern states, accusing the ruling party of vote rigging.
Council workers allied to the South African Municipal Workers Union plan to strike over wages next week.
And, Egypt says that the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa aims to finalise an internal investment agreement by August.

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.